Lei Jun's "mass line" has entered the vision of which masses｜Research report on 150 Xiaomi SU7 users

This article obtained a user portrait of Xiaomi SU7 car by analyzing the survey questionnaire. If you are interested, let’s take a look.

Important Tips:

Growth Black Box sent out survey questionnaires by circling relevant groups of people, and eventually collected 150 valid samples , including 50 car owners who had purchased Xiaomi SU7 (referred to as "purchasing users" in the chart) and 100 prospective car owners who had a strong desire to purchase Xiaomi SU7 (referred to as "potential users" in the chart).

The research direction and results will be divided into four parts: user portrait, car purchase preference, user stickiness, and marketing profiling .

The survey results are absolutely first-hand, authentic and valid .

At the end of March 2021, Xiaomi announced that it would build a car. Exactly three years later, at the end of March 2024, the launch of Xiaomi SU7 pushed Xiaomi to an unprecedented peak of public opinion, which lasted throughout April and is still continuing today.

For more than a month, Growth Black Box has been quietly watching this huge amount of traffic, from Lei Jun's personality, to personally opening the door for the car owner, to the secret competition between friendly companies, to the youthful past of the big guys. It has been on the hot search list more than hundreds of times, comparable to a daily updated TV series.

It can be summed up in one sentence: Mi fans are celebrating, passers-by are watching, and car industry bosses are on edge (surprise bet) . There are also a lot of articles about Xiaomi SU7. After all, who doesn’t like to take advantage of a God-given hot spot?

However, Growth Black Box firmly believes that consumption will ultimately return to consumers. No matter how gorgeous the narrative is, it cannot be as real and reliable as consumer indicators.

Therefore, when Xiaomi announced that it had delivered more than 7,000 Xiaomi SU7s, we took immediate action and organized a rigorous and objective user survey. In an approach without storytelling, emotion, or subjective assumptions , we tried to show Xiaomi's true performance in its car sales journey, with the main goal of seeing the big picture from the small details.

1. User portrait: What kind of people buy/want to buy Xiaomi SU7?

During the years when Xiaomi was thriving in the mobile phone market, users often argued over “Which is better, Huawei or Xiaomi?” on forums dominated by men. In other words, the so-called 3C and technology circles were often “battlefields” where male friends competed to see who was better.

Although car companies have begun to pay attention to the share of female car owners, our research shows that among the buyers and potential users of Xiaomi SU7, men still occupy the majority position with an overwhelming trend of more than 90%. This seems to be the continuation and deepening of the Xiaomi mobile phone fan group.

In terms of education, 80% of car owners/prospective car owners have a bachelor's degree/college degree as their highest education level. If all bachelor's degrees/college degrees and above are added together, the proportion is as high as 95%. It seems that Xiaomi SU7 attracts people with high education levels .

More than 60% of these people live in first-tier cities and new first-tier cities , and are basically distributed in eastern and central China, which shows that the audience of Xiaomi SU7 is strongly correlated with the level of economic development .

In addition to being highly educated and living in developed regions, Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners also tend to be young , with the majority being between 26 and 30 years old. If we break down the survey subjects by whether they have purchased a car, we will find an interesting phenomenon: car buyers are generally slightly older than potential buyers. Excluding those aged 26-30, the second-largest group of car buyers is between 31 and 35, while the second-largest group of potential buyers is between 21 and 25.

The shape of the age distribution graph is highly similar to the household annual income distribution graph . We can see that users with an annual household income of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan account for the highest proportion, while the second-ranked car buyers are 300,000 to 400,000 yuan, and the intended users are 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, that is, car buyers are generally richer than intended users.

From this, we can infer that the reason why some potential users have not yet placed an order is that their years of work and income status make them temporarily reluctant to buy a car. However, this also sends a positive signal, that is, when young people with insufficient income have become potential users of Xiaomi cars, as they get older and their income increases, the sales of Xiaomi cars are likely to rise.

In any case, looking at the whole country, Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners can definitely be regarded as a high-income group. To support this high income, the nature of their work is not surprisingly more inclined to private enterprises, entrepreneurship , etc. Or perhaps, this type of work not only has an advantage in income, but also cultivates users' vision and consumption habits to keep up with the trend.

From the discussion on social media, we thought that Xiaomi SU7 was more popular among singles, after all, its driving experience and exterior design impressed people the most. However, our survey results show that among the purchasing users, married people with children are the main force. Although singles are the most likely users, the proportion of married people with children is not low. In general, there are more married people than single people, and it seems that "bringing a family" does not affect keeping up with the trend.

Further observation shows that most people who like Xiaomi SU7 are interested in sports, fitness and outdoor travel . Overall, they should be energetic, healthy, positive, good at socializing, and have a high pursuit of quality of life.

Combining the above characteristics, we can average out a representative image of a Xiaomi SU7 user👇

2. Car purchasing preferences: What considerations do Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners have for the product itself?

Not long ago, Lei Jun announced at the Xiaomi Investor Conference that as of April 20, the number of Xiaomi SU7 orders has exceeded 70,000 units, of which the standard version accounts for 28.57%, the Pro version accounts for 28.27%, and the Max version accounts for 43.16%. It can be seen that the top configuration is the most popular.

In fact, this phenomenon is not unique to Xiaomi, and brands such as Xiaopeng and Weilai also had similar experiences in the early days. However, after the earliest period of listing, the sales share of top-end models usually declines, accompanied by an increase in the proportion of basic and mid-range versions.

From our survey results, we can already see some clues. Although among potential users, those who prefer the top configuration still account for the highest proportion, among users who have already purchased, the proportion of those who choose the standard configuration is basically the same as the proportion of those who choose the top configuration .

As a new species that has entered the market in the past decade, pure electric vehicles have grown rapidly, but they are not the first choice of many consumers. Coupled with various infrastructure issues, first-time car buyers will still choose gasoline cars. Therefore, for a long time, pure electric car owners are not first-time car buyers , and the purchase of pure electric vehicles is more out of interest or flexible demand rather than rigid demand. (Growth Black Box also verified this when studying Weilai’s user structure last year)

However, our survey found that 40% of the users who purchased the car were buying it for the first time , and 35% of the users who intended to buy the car were buying it for the first time . This means that users have a high degree of trust in Xiaomi SU7. Xiaomi has won users not only from a series of pure electric car brands , but also from the entire automobile market .

Based on the increase in the proportion of first-time car buyers, the main use of Xiaomi SU7 also tends to be basic scenarios . More than 70% of people use it as a means of transportation to and from work , and more than 60% of people use it for daily leisure travel such as shopping, dining, dating and gatherings.

So, what do you like about Xiaomi SU7?

We originally expected that the most striking feature of Xiaomi SU7 was a certain performance of the car, but it was not. The top three reasons that prompted car owners/prospective car owners to place orders were cost-effectiveness , brand reputation and the charm of the founder . We believe that this aspect should be significantly different from other new car manufacturers. Obviously, the hot sales of Xiaomi SU7 rely heavily on the image and reputation that Xiaomi has built over the past decade.

Lei Jun once wrote in his autobiography "Xiaomi Entrepreneurship Thoughts": Price/performance ratio is not about discussing absolute price, nor low price, but about comparative advantage, that is, the best performance at the same price, and the lowest price for the same performance.

Today, users’ recognition of the “price-performance ratio” of Xiaomi cars has also successfully continued the positioning of Xiaomi mobile phones in the market.

Of course, the factors of the car itself are still important. Lei Jun passionately shared many design concepts and details of Xiaomi SU7 at the press conference on March 28, so we want to verify whether these designs are "just what" users want?

We examined 10 highlight designs, and found that more than 50% of them met user needs on average, and more than 20% of them exceeded user expectations and brought surprises on average. Both measurement methods reflect the recognition or positive comments of car owners/prospective owners, which fully demonstrates that these designs collectively constitute the competitive advantage and industry barrier of Xiaomi SU7.

In terms of brand image, car owners/prospective car owners believe that Xiaomi SU7 is technologically intelligent , young and energetic , which once again cross-verifies its customer portrait.

Even if potential users have strong intentions, they have not yet placed an order. So what is the reason that makes them hesitate?

As expected, being too popular is also a kind of "original sin". Among the potential users we surveyed, half of them thought the delivery cycle of Xiaomi SU7 was too long and gave up purchasing it temporarily. This is indeed the case. Lei Jun said at the end of April that the one-month lock-in order volume has sold out this year's production capacity. Nearly half of the potential users also believe that Xiaomi's car manufacturing is a novice and remains to be seen .

If they don’t buy Xiaomi SU7, what brand of pure electric cars will they choose?

We can see that BYD has gained a cliff-like lead. However, this does not mean that the sudden appearance of Xiaomi SU7 directly hits or seizes BYD's market. This "replacement rate test" reflects who Xiaomi's car-making has taken a piece of the pie for, and on the other hand, it reflects who has a larger market.

Do you remember the primary reason that prompted users to order Xiaomi SU7? The price-performance ratio . BYD happens to be the price-performance ratio king, no wonder it has always been the number one in the automobile market in recent years.

In addition, many studies on the market have stated that Xiaomi SU7 and Zeekr 001 have formed the most direct competitive relationship, which is reflected in the fact that the customer flow and orders of Zeekr 001 have weakened after the launch of Xiaomi Motors. This is also reflected in our research results.

3. User stickiness: Are owners/prospective owners of Xiaomi SU7 loyal to the Xiaomi brand?

Xiaomi started making cars later than almost all the new active car-making forces in the market, but Xiaomi's brand history is longer than those of the new car-making forces. Once it was released, it was able to set off a sensation in the entire industry. I believe the potential energy of the brand itself cannot be ignored.

Lei Jun once said: Xiaomi has tens of millions of loyal fans and users in China. As long as 1% of them are willing to give us a chance, Xiaomi Auto will have a fantastic start.

Now that the new car is on the market, it seems to have verified Mr. Lei’s idea.

We observed that almost all of our survey subjects have used Xiaomi products , and 80% of them have used Xiaomi mobile phones . Other categories with a relatively high share include smart wearables, smart homes, and household appliances. This shows that Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners are basically old users of the Xiaomi brand. Since the total share reaches 400%, it reflects that each owner/prospective owner has used four categories of Xiaomi products on average.

When we asked the respondents whether they would consider Xiaomi first when choosing the above products, more than 90% of them said “yes”. It seems that, whether in actual behavior or subjective inclination, Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners have already had a very high degree of stickiness and loyalty to the Xiaomi brand before buying the car.

Xiaomi was founded in 2010, 15 years ago, and has gone through several stages of development. The survey subjects also became loyal users of Xiaomi at different stages of development. Among them, the potential users of Xiaomi SU7 mainly entered the market when Xiaomi was building its smart ecosystem , while the purchasing users became loyal after Xiaomi announced its car manufacturing .

The current high recognition of the Xiaomi brand has also reasonably extended to positive expectations for Xiaomi's future development. More than 98% of surveyed users will not only continue to buy Xiaomi products in the future , but are also full of confidence in the development of the Xiaomi ecosystem and Xiaomi cars .

In addition, we also found a "little easter egg". At the beginning of this year, Apple announced that it would abandon its plan to build cars, so during the launch of Xiaomi Motors, Lei Jun publicly said that he hoped that Xiaomi SU7 would become the first choice for Apple users. Our survey data shows that among Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners, excluding those who use Xiaomi phones, the proportion of Apple is much higher than that of other brands. It seems that this wave is about to turn the enemy into a friendly force!

4. Marketing profile: Is the marketing of Xiaomi SU7/Lei Jun really very successful?

Lei Jun's marketing ability is so strong that it is obvious to the whole industry. For more than a month, the discussion about Lei Jun's marketing has even overshadowed the Xiaomi SU7 itself. How powerful is it? I think I can borrow a sentence from netizens: Before Lei Jun, the auto shows were all young models, and after Lei Jun, the auto shows are all CEOs .

Do you remember the reasons that prompted car owners/prospective car owners to place orders discussed in Part 2? The third reason is the charm of the founder . Unlike "buying a bottle of beverage endorsed by my brother to support him", for a commodity with a very high customer unit price, the consumption decision is usually less affected by emotional factors. Therefore, the value of Lei Jun's personal charm is more prominent, which is the kind of real money.

To further confirm this finding, we used a scale to examine the evaluation of Xiaomi SU7 owners/prospective owners on the impact of Lei Jun's personal image. As many as 97% of the respondents believed that the impact was positive , prompting them to be more interested in Xiaomi , and no one believed that there was a negative impact or held a negative attitude.

We have observed that Lei Jun's Internet image is generally very positive . Most importantly, these positive traits show almost no signs of deliberate maintenance . Perhaps this is the source of Mi fans' long-lasting and steadfast love.

Obviously, Lei Jun's charm is so great that people in the circle can't catch up, forcing all kinds of bigwigs who never show up or rarely show up to gather on the Internet overnight, with Lei Jun as the center, actively expanding the radius of popularity, scrambling to open screens in various ways. Of course, there are some failures (which is not in line with the main purpose of this article, so I won't expand on it), and the final result is that after all the hard work, they end up increasing Lei Jun's fans.

This reminds me of a philosophy that has reached the pinnacle: spend less money to do more, do things without spending money, and spend other people's money to do your own things . I have to say that Lei Jun has implemented it very well, and it is no wonder that Zhou Hongyi, the "President of the Lei Academy", has emerged.

In addition to the part related to Lei Jun, we have another important discovery in marketing. I have read several studies on the marketing channels of Xiaomi SU7 during its launch period. Whether it is information delivery or interactive data, Weibo and WeChat ecosystems are the first to bear the brunt, but when we focus on car owners/prospective car owners, we will find that the number one information acquisition channel is the official website .

It is not difficult to understand that for products with extremely high average order value and heavy consumption decisions, consumers will pay more attention to the accuracy and completeness of information, as well as whether the content has been processed twice. This also gives an important revelation to competitors and even practitioners in other industries: the role of the official website or independent website is crucial in the sales chain.

Conclusion

At the beginning of this year, the entire passenger car industry, including new energy vehicles and fuel vehicles, experienced a significant price reduction. BYD took the lead in the new energy vehicle market, causing the entire industry to fall into unprecedented fierce competition.

For fuel vehicles, price cuts may be to reduce inventory or to slow the loss of market share, while for new energy vehicles, price cuts are to grab market share. Even if the penetration rate of new energy vehicles increases year by year, there is no guarantee that every company will get a piece of the pie.

Competition in the auto market has become an elimination match. The entry of Xiaomi is more like a catfish entering a can of sardines, making all automakers perk up.

However, Growth Black Box believes that Xiaomi's genes determine that it will not always stand on the same track as pure car companies. As Lei Jun said - making cars has allowed Xiaomi to achieve a complete closed loop of "the entire ecosystem of people, cars and homes" - therefore, what supports Xiaomi to go further is by no means a car, but a super-intelligent ecosystem that actively serves people.

Author: Zou Xiaokun; WeChat public account: Growthbox